Nguyen Duy Hai feels a cold shiver run through his body every time he watches footage of Dr. McKay McKinnon removing his 82-kilogram (180 lb) tumor three months ago in a historic surgery.

He was discharged from FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday (April 10) after making a full recovery and a new future hopefully awaits the 32-year-old from Da Lat thanks to some kind doctors and Samaritans.

“I feel like I am flying. For more than five years I had to be in bed,” he told doctors and more than 100 journalists at a press briefing during his discharge.

Hai has a genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1), formerly known as von Recklinghausen disease, and the tumor appeared in his right leg when he was four. It continued to grow and forced him to quit school in sixth grade.

His right leg was amputated 15 years ago with his consent but the tumor came back.

Born to a poor family, Hai struggled to learn mobile phone repair to help his family but had to stop after six months because the tumor became too big.

“I will take a rest for some time and then resume my training,” he said.

On January 5 his tumor was successfully removed by Dr. McKinnon and a staff of 28 doctors, nurses, and technicians in a 12-hour surgery broadcast live by the US-based Morningstar Entertainment.

The cost of the treatment totaled nearly VND900 million (US$43,400). The Red Cross in Da Lat contributed VND110 million, other donors gave VND142 million, and FV Hospital provided the rest.

Before the surgery McKinnon had said there was only a 50 percent possibility of success, but Hai decided to go ahead because “lying in bed all day was just like I was dead.”

Dr. Phan Van Thai of FV Hospital said Hai’s post-operative care was as critical as the surgery itself because Hai’s wound was large – 25 cm by 35 cm – and required skin grafting, he had lost much blood during the surgery, and he had been undernourished.

“We had to feed him 3,000 kilocalories a day. He was 40 kg after the tumor was removed. Now he is 49 kg.”

Then the physical therapy was expected to be difficult because Hai’s spinal column had been severely bent due to the large tumor.

“However, his patience in doing the exercises which facilitated the recovery surprised us. He had a really strong desire to stand up and walk again,” Thai said.

Another surprise was that Hai’s health indicators were normal in just three months because he was aware of a similar case that took nine months for full recovery, he said.

Hai’s mother, Nguyen Thi Cho Con, 61, said she did not expect a famous surgeon to come all the way from the US to help her son.

“This shows human love abounds just like water of the sea,” she said.

Hai thinks about other disadvantaged people like him.

“I wish Dr. McKinnon could save them like he saved my life.”

FV Hospital’s CEO Dr. Jean-Marcel Guillon said they are looking for a philanthropist who could get a prosthetic leg for Hai so that he could walk without crutches.

Vietweek reported about two more cases of rare tumors in the past week, and Dr. McKinnon has said he can be of help again.

Nguyen Thi Loan, seven, of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong was transferred to the HCMC Children’s Hospital No. 2 on March 10 for diagnosis and treatment of her abnormally large left leg.

When she was three, her left leg grew rapidly and had many tiny pimples that often bled.

Her mother Nguyen Thi Tam said the girl could only drink milk and eat a little porridge over the past several days. Loan also has a tumor in her buttocks that requires surgery.

Her parents are daily laborers who have struggled to raise Loan and two other children, an 11-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, both in normal condition.

Le Thanh Vu, 26, had giant tumors on his left arm and back for more than 20 years

The other case is that of Le Thanh Vu, 26, of the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang who has giant tumors on his left arm and back.

Vu weighs 50 kg but his mother Mui thinks half of the weight is due to the tumors, including three large ones on the back.

Though he cannot use his left hand, Vu has been eking out a living selling lottery tickets since his father died a few years ago.

Vu said the giant tumors make it really difficult to do simple things like wearing a shirt.

Dr. McKinnon said Vu is already known to doctors at Cho Ray Hospital.

“He suffers from neurofibromatosis and it is possible that I may be able to help him surgically some time.”

As for Loan, McKinnon said she could probably be treated with injections of sclerosing agents such as Bleomycin.

“I have not seen any scans of this patient or learnt about her actual treatment history from her doctors.”

Nguyen Duy Hai, 33, of Lam Dong Province's Da Lat Town walking with a walker after having a 90-kg tumor tumor removed from his leg at FV Hospital in January 2012. Photo by Nguyen Mi Nguyen Duy Hai, who had his 90-kilogram tumor successfully removed by an American surgeon in an operation that made headlines worldwide in January last year, passed away of respiratory failure in Da Lat early morning Friday. Hai, 33, of Da Lat, had pain in the right leg from where the tumor was removed -- at FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City -- since Thursday morning. He developed breathing difficulty at 1:30 p.m. and his family rushed him to Hoan My Da Lat General Hospital. His condition worsened, and he was transferred to the Lam Dong General Hospital at 4 p.m. in a deep coma and with a swelling in the brain. Nguyen Xuan Tao, head of the hospital's Resuscitation and Antitoxin Department, told Thanh Nien that he had pulmonary embolism, or a blockage in the blood vessels of the lung, which then led to respiratory failure and eventually death at 12:09 a.m. Dr Pham Vu Thanh of the resuscitation department was quoted by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper as saying that doctors gave him an injection to increase his blood pressure, put him on a ventilator, and took other emergency measures but could not save him. Hai has neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1), a genetic disorder formerly known as von Recklinghausen disease. Nguyen Thi Le Thu,…... [read more]

Vietnamese and foreign doctors have successfully removed a 90-kilogram tumor from a man in a 10-hour operation at Ho Chi Minh City's FV Hospital Thursday. Nguyen Duy Hai, 32, of Dalat underwent the operation to remove easily the biggest tumor ever recorded in Vietnam. The surgery started at 8:55 a.m. and ended at 7:30 p.m., and was broadcast live by US' Morningstar Entertainment. Hai's mother Nguyen Thi Cho Con, who was watching the surgery on a TV screen outside the operation room, burst into tears when it ended upon seeing Hai's heart beating. "I am walking on clouds now," she said. Dr. McKay McKinnon, a renowned US plastic surgeon, led the surgery team. Dr. Gerard Desvignes, medical director of FV Hospital, had said earlier that tests showed the patient was in good enough health for such a risky surgery. Hai will remain in the intensive-care unit for at least a week now. Doctors hope his heart and lungs will function normally. The treatment is estimated to cost VND420 million (US$19,970), but FV Hospital has charged only VND252 million, which was contributed by the Dalat City Red Cross and other donors. Dr McKinnon performed the surgery free of charge. Hai has been diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1), formerly known as von Recklinghausen disease, a genetic disorder. RELATED CONTENT Doctors give up on 90-kg tumorUS doctors to remove 90-kg tumor of Vietnamese man He was normal at birth, but his right leg grew much bigger than his left leg by the…... [read more]

Man gets five years in jail for slandering VN In a verdicthanded down yesterday, June 6, by the People's Court of the central province of Ninh Thuan, Phan Ngoc Tuan, 53, of Phuoc My Ward in the provincial city of Phan Rang-Thap Cham has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for slandering the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Tuan was also ordered to hand over to public funds more than VND2 million ($100) which he had received from various reactionary organisations to enable him to conduct anti-Government activities. During the trial, due to Tuan's refusal to speak or acknowledge his crimes, the judge decided to bypass the interrogation and read aloud Tuan's statement made during his detainment by police at 10am on January 3, 2012. In that statement, he admitted distributing anti-Government leaflets accusing the Vietnamese authorities of suppressing religion and isolating siblings of people who had served in the Sai Gon regime. He said that all of the anti-Government documents had been photocopied in the city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province and then transported back to Phan Rang-Thap Cham, as well as to HCM City and some localities in Ha Noi for circulation. Tuan admitted that his son Phan Nguyen Ngoc Tu, 24, was his accomplice, helping him post anti-Government leaflets and video clips on the internet and maintain contact with reactionaries living abroad to support his anti-Government activities, including Doan Viet Trung in Australia and Nguyen Thi Hien in the US. Nguyen Cong Chinh, a Protestant…... [read more]

If there may be a surgical solution to one’s problem, they should search for help, says Gary Tarpinian, a producer for US-based Morning Star Entertainment, who produced a 60-minute documentary about Nguyen Duy Hai, a Vietnamese man with the largest tumor in the world.Why did you change the original title of "Dr. McKinnon's File" into "The Man With the 200lb Tumor”? It seemed more appropriate since this is really Hai’s story. We wanted the focus to be on him. What messages would you like to convey through the film? There are many messages that we wanted to convey. First and foremost is that Hai is an extraordinary man who handled his difficult problem (the tumor) with grace and dignity and never seemed bitter or angry, wondering aloud why God chose him for this awful disease. He always seemed cheerful even during the darkest hour when his surgery was cancelled and Dr. McKinnon flew back home to America. We all expect our friends and family to help us when we have a problem, but in Hai’s case, there were many, many people in Vietnam – such as the wonderful people at the French-Vietnam Hospital – who helped him, and many more in the US and Canada who would not give up till he got the help he deserved. I’d especially like to single out the work of Dr. McKinnon – who received no pay for his work, and Sam Ottawa. I’d also like to thank Amanda Shumacher of the Tree of…... [read more]

It was a little past 7 on January 5, 2012 when Dr. McKay McKinnon finished his massive operation on Nguyen Duy Hai at the Ho Chi Minh France-Vietnam Hospital (FV). After a marathon surgery of 11 hours and 23 minutes, the 82-kilogram tumor that Hai had suffered from for years was successfully removed. Part 1: "Firefighter" for people inflicted by diseases Part 2: Fairy for Vietnam children with cardiac diseases Part 3: "Tree of Life" of an American millionaire Part 4: Charity chords of an unsung swan Part 5: The man with the 'golden' hands Part 6: The camera's power Part 7: The life-changing series Part 8: Every living moment is valuable Part 9: Hope for a new life The tall and slim American doctor, hailing from Chicago, slowly walked out of the operating room. "There will be one surgery for My Dung tomorrow, and another for Sa Ly at Cho Ray hospital the day after that," he must have been telling himself. "Action speaks louder than words" Dr McKinnon did not appear at the press conference held later by FV Hospital, neither did he seem to care about his historic success, a story which made headlines in almost all of the biggest local newspapers the day after Hai's surgery. Readers who had followed Hai's story wrote in and showed their admiration and gratefulness to the doctor who came all the way to Vietnam to save Hai. By then, the media had yet to know that he was the calm…... [read more]

Young, beautiful, and talented, Tina Thien Nga Nguyen dedicates most of her free time, apart from family responsibilities and running her own business to her tireless charity work. Part 1: “Firefighter” for people inflicted by diseases Part 2: Fairy for Vietnam children with cardiac diseases Part 3: “Tree of Life” of an American millionaire Part 4: Charity chords of an unsung swan Part 5: The man with the 'golden' hands Part 6: The camera's power Part 7: The life-changing series Part 8: Every living moment is valuable Part 9: Hope for a new life Anyone who has seen and talked to Tina Thien Nga Nguyen will find themselves reflecting on the time they have allowed to waste away. Tina, a mother of two, and a business owner, has led a busy life packed with family responsibilities and tight work deadlines. Yet she still finds time for her own charity work, with which comes myriads of phone calls, e-mail exchanges and field trips. An unusual Tet holiday Tina knew of Duy Hai, My Dung and Sa Ly and came to help them by chance. The Faifoo Boutique Hotel - Restaurant which she owns was suggested to Dr. McKay Mckinnon and his team, together with the Morningstar Entertainment film crew, for their first visit to Vietnam last November. The hotel is located near Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital, where Hai was staying. But it was not until December 2011 that she became fully involved in the case, as by then the stories…... [read more]

German philosopher Immanuel Kahn says: "Virtue itself is a reward". Tuoitrenews would like to feature a series of stories of great people whose hearts have brought miracles to poor people affected with severe diseases in Vietnam. They really make miracles happen. For those people, doing charitable activities itself is a reward. It takes a lot of times to convince Sam-Ottawa whom we get to know via email to talk about his medical endeavor and himself. He always declines to be interviewed by saying "Don't take me too seriously. There is no need to mention what I did because it's no big deal. I only knock on doors and ask for help from people that may be able to help those in need." 1,500 emails and 200 phone calls He is the person connecting world-renowned American surgeon McKay McKinnon with major hospitals and doctors in Vietnam to operate on three local tumor patients in early January 2012: Nguyen Duy Hai, Thach Thi Sa Ly, and Kieu Thi My Dung. He exchanged more than 1,500 emails, and made over 200 telephone calls to build a bridge. It's quite difficult to connect the people involved in the cases because they live half a world apart. The tumor patients and their families are living in Vietnam, Sam is living in Ottawa, Canada, Dr. McKay McKinnon and Morningstar Entertainment's film crew are living in the US. Three years after taking early retirement from Statistics Canada, a Canadian government agency in Ottawa where he used to…... [read more]

German philosopher Immanuel Kahn says: "Virtue itself is a reward". Tuoitrenews would like to feature a series of stories of great people whose hearts have brought miracles to poor people affected with severe diseases in Vietnam. They really make miracles happen. For those people, doing charitable activities itself is a reward. Part 1: "Firefighter" for people inflicted by diseases Part 2: Fairy for Vietnam children with cardiac diseases Part 3: "Tree of Life" of an American millionaire Part 4: Charity chords of an unsung swan Part 5: The man with the 'golden' hands Part 6: The camera's power Part 7: The life-changing series Part 8: Every living moment is valuable Part 9: Hope for a new life It takes a lot of times to convince Sam-Ottawa whom we get to know via email to talk about his medical endeavor and himself. He always declines to be interviewed by saying "Don’t take me too seriously. There is no need to mention what I did because it’s no big deal. I only knock on doors and ask for help from people that may be able to help those in need." 1,500 emails and 200 phone calls He is the person connecting world-renowned American surgeon McKay McKinnon with major hospitals and doctors in Vietnam to operate on three local tumor patients in early January 2012: Nguyen Duy Hai, Thach Thi Sa Ly, and Kieu Thi My Dung. He exchanged more than 1,500 emails, and made over 200 telephone calls to build a bridge.…... [read more]

In mid-November 2011, British film director and producer Andrew Nock travelled to Vietnam for the first time. With him went cameraman Michael Ojeda and soundman Joe Egan, to film Nguyen Duy Hai’s and later Sa Ly’s and My Dung’s story, whose surgeries were performed by Dr. McKay McKinnon. Andrew Nock in the house of Duy Hai in Lam Dong Province Photo: Andrew Nock Part 1: “Firefighter” for people inflicted by diseases Part 2: Fairy for Vietnam children with cardiac diseases Part 3: “Tree of Life” of an American millionaire Part 4: Charity chords of an unsung swan Part 5: The man with the ‘golden’ hands Part 6: The camera’s power Part 7: The life-changing series Between then and early January 2012, Andrew has gone back and forth between the two countries three times, and also stopped in Thailand to film another tumor patient being helped by the doctor. Working in the field When in Vietnam, the team closely followed Duy Hai and his family, documenting their difficult journey as they fought for his life. When Hai was transferred from his hometown of Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City in an ambulance, they were right behind in their rented van; when Hai was examined and staying in the hospital, the team was “camping” outside. They always looked hurried but professional, incredibly focused and did not miss any details of the story. There were days when they worked 14-15 hours a day, yet the men were rarely seen late or complaining.…... [read more]

In mid-November 2011, British film director and producer Andrew Nock travelled to Vietnam for the first time. With him went cameraman Michael Ojeda and soundman Joe Egan, to film Nguyen Duy Hai's and later Sa Ly's and My Dung's story, whose surgeries were performed by Dr. McKay McKinnon. Part 1: "Firefighter" for people inflicted by diseases Part 2: Fairy for Vietnam children with cardiac diseases Part 3: "Tree of Life" of an American millionaire Part 4: Charity chords of an unsung swan Part 5: The man with the 'golden' hands Part 6: The camera's power Part 7: The life-changing series Between then and early January 2012, Andrew has gone back and forth between the two countries three times, and also stopped in Thailand to film another tumor patient being helped by the doctor. Working in the field When in Vietnam, the team closely followed Duy Hai and his family, documenting their difficult journey as they fought for his life. When Hai was transferred from his hometown of Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City in an ambulance, they were right behind in their rented van; when Hai was examined and staying in the hospital, the team was "camping" outside. They always looked hurried but professional, incredibly focused and did not miss any details of the story. There were days when they worked 14-15 hours a day, yet the men were rarely seen late or complaining. Such a hectic working schedule is not unfamiliar to an experienced filmmaker like Andrew, a…... [read more]